Julie Sweetland, PhD, Senior Advisor at FrameWorks

Framing Youth Substance Use Prevention

June 25, 2018

Three Strategies for Getting It RightInvited by

Ohio Prevention Network

FrameWorks is on a mission...

to advance the nonprofit sector's capacity to frame the public discourse on social and scientific issues

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FrameWorks takes a multidisciplinary approach to communications research + practice

ThinkingCommunication Discourse Policy

Frames can drive broad social change

Frames are sets of choices about how information is presented:

What to emphasize, how to explain it, and what to leave unsaid.

Names are part of frames

Researchers ran an experiment exploring

the public’s associations with a few common

reference terms for older adults

The recommendation: Use the term

older person/people. It cues both

“over age 60” and “competent.”

least competent most competent

senior elderly senior citizen older person older adult

elderly senior citizensenior older person older adult~69 ~68~69 ~64 ~54

oldest youngest

Three strategies for reframing your issue

Know the story you’re in

Insist on evidence

Frame with friends

Know the story you’re in

The Field

“We need to focus on preventing initial use among youth - it’s an important way of preventing both immediate risks and longer-term problems like addiction.”

The Public

You Say ... They Think

The Field

“Our program works with young people to steer them toward positive activities and away from drugs and alcohol.”

The Public

You Say ... They Think

Widespread conceptions hamper support for prevention

Teens Make Bad Choices FatalismExperimentation is Natural

Insist on Evidence

Correcting their mistakes doesn’t work

Source: Skurnik et al 2005, Journal of American Medical Association

People misremembered the myths as true.

Got worse over time.

Attributed false information to the CDC.

Study of myth-fact structure found:

Piling on more and more data doesn’t work

The “Crisis” Trap

The crisis story has its limits

“People have a limited capacity for the kind of worry that motivates action, so that an increase in concern about one risk tends to reduce concern about others...The presence of a finite pool of worry suggests that we can expect political inertia even when people appreciate that a particular problem exists, if concern for that problem is ‘crowded out’ by other issues that seem more pressing.”

Crisis framing drains the public’s “finite pool of worry”

Source: Stephen M. Gardiner, 2009. “Saved by Disaster?” Journal of Social Philosophy

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Ingenuity Interdependence Empathy

Support for Evidence-Based Addiction Policies n=6,000

Guesswork doesn’t workMission-driven communicators can look to evidence to guide them

INSTEAD OF THIS TRY THIS

The Problem Is REALLY Bad Join Us In Solving the Problem

Testing found a values frame that boosts policy support

“We have a moral obligation to keep youth out of harm’s way.

Early use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs is harmful.

Our communities have a shared responsibility to reduce access to these substances, and to prevent younger people from using them. Their bodies and brains are still developing.

Moral Responsibility for Youth

Foreground who’s responsible, not who’s affected

Adolescents need healthy environments and opportunities to learn, develop, and grow.

It’s up to all of us to make sure our communities offer healthy environments for adolescents.

We have an obligation to do what it takes to make learning opportunities abundant, and keep harmful substances out of youth’s reach.

For our young people to grow into thriving, happy adults, they must grow up in drug-free environments.

Our community must take responsibility for providing safe environments for youth.

It’s on us, as health leaders, to push our zoning committee to limit the density of retailers who sell tobacco, liquor, and marijuana in our neighborhoods.

INSTEAD OF THIS TRY THIS

Rebutting with Facts Redirecting Attention

Use naming to help build new public understanding

alcohol and other drugs“Harmful substances like tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs”

drugs and alcohol

alcohol, marijuana, and drugs

Stove / Boiling metaphor builds sense of prevention efforts

Turning Down the Heat“There’s a lot cooking in the adolescent brain - it’s a time of change.

If harmful substances like tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs are added to the mix,

things can overheat quickly.

Just like we can turn down the heat on a stove, we can prevent the problems associated with youth substance use by making changes in the community.”

The teen years are a time when young people go through tremendous changes. They must navigate the physical changes that come with adolescence, deal with completing high school, decide on a direction for further education or a career, and, most importantly, figure out who they are.

For teens who are already using drugs or alcohol, early intervention is key before the issue escalates to a more serious level.

Substance abuse is a serious matter among teens and many times is more than just a passing phase or something that the young person will grow out of once he or she is finished school.

There’s a lot cooking in the teen years: young people are navigating physical changes, making big decisions about their future, and most importantly, trying to figure out who they are.

Adding harmful substances - like tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs - to the bubbling cauldron of adolescence is never a good idea. Even occasional use comes with immediate risks - for instance, increasing chances of unsafe driving or unhealthy relationships.Just like we can turn down the heat on a stove, communities can keep youth from harm by making sensible. changes.

Frame with friends

Resonant frames are gifts to future movements

A story you all can share, with confidence

Why does this matter?

What can we do about it?

How does this work? It it’s not working, why not?

Sharing a well-framed message can move your movement forward

“A talent for speaking differently, rather than arguing well, is the chief instrument of cultural change.”

- Richard Rorty

Thank you! Let’s continue the conversation.

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